


Exchanges of Power

by fabricdragon



Series: The Path of the Serpent [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dubious Consent, Emotional Manipulation, Everyone Has Issues, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Torture, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Manipulation, Non-Graphic Violence, Post-Avengers (2012), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Power Imbalance, Rape/Non-con Elements, Sex, Sex Magic, Sub Tony, Tony-centric, Top Loki, Top Tony Stark, Topping from the Bottom, but not really, more tags to be added later, switch Loki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-04-28 15:57:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 18,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5096531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabricdragon/pseuds/fabricdragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark is a prisoner.  Since when has that ever worked out for anyone but Tony Stark?</p><p> </p><p>Updates Mondays (when possible)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Melodrama

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [I Think, Therefore I Kink](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1925817) by [silver_drip](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silver_drip/pseuds/silver_drip). 
  * Inspired by [I Think, Therefore I Kink](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1925817) by [silver_drip](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silver_drip/pseuds/silver_drip). 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance.  
> -Sun Tzu

It was dark. It was dark and his head hurt. It was dark, his head hurt, and he tasted blood in the back of his throat. He slipped back into unconsciousness.

It was dark.   It was dark and his head hurt. Wait… it wasn’t completely dark. He struggled to stay awake. His arms hurt. He shut his eyes for a moment.

He opened his eyes. He was in a very dim room. His head hurt, and he couldn’t quite focus. Concussion, he supposed. His arms hurt. His back hurt. He remembered his name; he was Tony Stark.

He was kneeling in a cell: his ankles chained together; his arms chained out to his sides and up. His back hurt from hanging against his restraints. He had a concussion, and very probably broken bones. His chest was wrapped tightly, which may have been to support broken ribs, or may have been to cut off the light of his arc reactor. His name was Tony Stark. He was Iron Man. He was a prisoner again.

He was a prisoner of Victor Von Doom.

Tony waited in the dim room for someone to come and get him. Doom wanted something -otherwise he would be dead- but what? Probably the codes to his suit, to start with; then he would want the access codes to Stark Industries computers. Tony turned that thought over. Unless there was something specific he needed first, it would be that: codes to the suit, then the main computers. Doom was easy to see through. He liked to think he was so brilliant and so tricky, opaque and hard to read, but he was a piece of glass over a large print book.

After Afghanistan Tony had made plans in case he was captured by almost any of his enemies. After Obie – it still hurt to think about Obie- he made plans in case he was captured or threatened by most of his friends. Doom had left him alive because he, Tony Stark, was a genius who could give him what he wanted: just like the last stupid fucks.

***

Tony had lost track. He thought this was the fourth torture session, but it might be the fifth. Doom was, unfortunately, way better at the whole torture thing than anyone else he’d dealt with. The part of Tony that wasn’t busy trying to breathe, or scream, was mentally adding up the amount of drugs it would take to ever sleep again, and coming up with a pretty scary number.

Doom was ranting at him again about his superiority, and the codes. Tony vaguely remembered that he’d already given him the fake codes, the ones that blew up the suit. He’d almost hoped Doom would fall for that one- God, the man was so stupid- but if he had he wouldn’t be demanding the real codes. Tony thought he better give in now and give him the real ones. Doom was pretty likely to kill him accidentally at this rate. He started trying to tell him the codes and got about half of them out before he passed out.

When he woke up he was still hanging in the torture device. As usual, after the session stopped he couldn’t think at all for several minutes, but, since he couldn’t do much of anything except hang there and shake, it didn’t matter. As his mind cleared he saw Doom ranting at him- saw, because his ears hadn’t stopped ringing yet. Doom’s voice started being intelligible after a while, damn it.

“The entire world will KNEEL before me, and you, you pathetic lackwit, will not stand in my way, for you have fallen into my hands and I WILL break you! You dare resist the…”

Tony tuned him out and started wheezing out the codes. He hoped the damn fool would actually listen to him and take the stupid thing. He was rapidly revising his estimate of Dooms intelligence downward. The guy could make stuff, sure, but the way he got lost in his own psycho ranting?

When he hallucinated a familiar voice answering back to Doom he almost laughed. Great, his subconscious sounded like Loki.

“Really Victor, you sound like a cheap melodrama.”

Except why was Doom answering? Tony opened his eyes with an effort.

Doom was standing in his usual spotlight. The light was always on him during these sessions. It was so the only thing you could see clearly was him. He wasn’t facing Tony, however, or the technicians at the monitors: he was facing off toward the door.

“… I shall BREAK him; he shall serve VON DOOM!” Tony had missed a lot.

“I think you already have, Victor,“ said the silky, amused voice in the shadows. “He’s been saying numbers at you, is that what you wanted? Or not…”

Loki walked out of the darkness and up to the edge of the circle of light around Doom. Whatever blood Tony had left went cold. _Loki?_

“Is whoever he was really worth making me wait for you, Victor? Because I won’t be treated like one of your lackeys.” Loki’s voice was light, amused sounding, and if Von Doom didn’t hear the threat there he was a bigger fool than Tony thought.

Doom turned away from Loki to face the technicians. “What has the wretch said?”

While the technician repeated back the numbers, Loki walked to the edge of the computer banks. Tony could see a faint green glimmer on his fingertips as he touched them.

“Loki?” Tony didn’t know he’d said it out loud until Loki turned to look at him.

“Victor…” Loki said in an almost conversational voice, “Who is this?”

Doom spun around and flared his cape out for show, as always. “He WAS Tony Stark, NOW he is my prisoner!”

Tony really wondered if he was just hallucinating again, because Loki did exactly what Tony wanted to do: rolled his eyes.

“Did he give you what you want?” Loki asked. Tony was beginning to wonder if he was ever going to come down out of this one, because now Loki sounded like he was talking to a child. He had that ‘oh so reasonable’ tone that set Tony’s teeth on edge.

Von Doom laughed and boomed out in his best villain monologue voice: “YES! I have...”

Loki cut him off drily: “So is there anything else you want from him?”

Doom spun to face Loki, who was still staying just outside the circle of light. “I shall have the codes to Stark Industries computers, once I have taken those I shall...”

Loki cut him off again, “Yes, yes, I’m quite sure.”   Tony wondered if Doom was going to explode.

“So, since you’ve broken him, why not just get the codes now, so we can get back to business?” Loki sounded like someone trying to coax a recalcitrant toddler into finishing his peas.

Doom was breathing hard and flexing his mailed hand into a fist over and over. Apparently Loki was valuable enough as an ally to not try to blast him for interrupting his monologueing…

Doom took a couple of strides to... _oh no, no, not again!_

Pain snapped him back in the restraints without warning. His teeth snapped together and he tasted blood. Blue white lightning flashed behind his eyelids. His mind whited out in shock. He heard words but he couldn’t make sense of them.

The pain stopped.

He vaguely became aware of Loki’s voice, sounding dismissive. Doom answering.

If he hadn’t been preparing to answer this question, with the codes waiting to be given, he honestly would have missed it when Doom demanded them. He babbled them out without thinking. Loki’s voice and Doom’s voice went on for a while, then silence.

He was going to be dragged back to his cell again. He didn’t bother to open his eyes. It was over. Doom had lost; he just didn’t know it yet.

But a cold feeling crept into his mind.

He hadn’t planned on Loki.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When i woke up from a bad injury, it took me a bit to remember who i was, and what my name was. likewise coming out of anesthesia. This is why the questions for someone who has been injured include "do you know wha day it is" and "whats your name" its not JUST for the forms.  
> your orientation in time and place gets messed up.  
> without benefit of a tardis


	2. Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I assess the power of a will by how much resistance, pain, torture it endures and knows how to turn to its advantage.  
> -Friedrich Nietzsche

Tony pulled himself together in his cell. Normally, after a torture session, they waited an hour or two for his stomach to settle, then threw in a bowl of some mush. The stuff was awful enough fresh but completely inedible stale, so he didn’t want to pass out completely until after he ate. That meant he better do his planning now.

Doom was done for. The suit tracers had obviously been blocked, but the good codes might convince him to take the pieces out of the shielded labs for testing: if so, the suit tracers might still be picked up. If he used that access code for Stark Industries research computers, however- Tony grinned into his hands, just in case the cell was monitored- if he used that code, the viral program would backtrace him. Any information downloaded would be traced, and every computer the data was copied onto would be hacked. It would also tell Jarvis that Tony was still alive, at least when he gave over the code. Then the countdown would start. In the end? Whether he had been found or not, the virus would turn the stolen data into a killing machine, destroying any system the information was stored on: hopefully after locating any information about Tony, of course, but the end result would be the same.

Doom wouldn’t kill him. Not yet. Not until it became obvious what his code had actually DONE. Until then he would be dragging Tony around as his new broken genius. Doom had gotten a BIT cannier over the last little while: he would probably let him get access to some attempt to escape- as a test- which Tony might take. If he didn’t take it, Doom would be convinced he’d been broken; if he did, then Doom would ‘crush his hopes’; at which point Tony could beg and crumble and have to do some boot licking. Either way, he would try to do something useful until help arrived.

The problem was Loki.

Loki was a wild card. He was predictable in some ways, but not others, and Tony wasn’t sure how he would react to a captured prisoner without having the scepter.

_He… didn’t… have the scepter, did he?_

He hadn’t been carrying it, and last time he hardly let it out of his sight, so… assuming he didn’t have it back, that left the question of what LOKI would do.

He had tried to get information out of Thor about Asgard, warfare, and prisoners: after all, Asgard might invade someday. He’d gotten some information, despite Thor’s best efforts to change the subject. The Asgardians kept slaves-thralls- as well as serfs. Serfs had some legal standing, some protections on what you could do to them, but that vanished pretty quickly when dealing with the real nobles. Thralls, and captured prisoners, had exactly what their owner gave them and not much more.   Thralls could be tortured or killed at a whim. The only saving grace was that a captured warrior was supposed to be treated with some dignity, or killed quickly. As a shield brother of Thor’s, any Asgardian should treat him well as a prisoner.

Except Loki. Loki hated his brother.

Doom’s guards threw in his bowl of food. He crawled over and carefully brought it to his face. As filthy as he was, as filthy as his hands were, he simply used the bowl as if it was a cup and then licked it out as best as he could. It was just enough calories to keep him going, but not enough to really let him recover. He had judged from the taste the first day that it was loaded with vitamins, but probably not drugged; of course, by this point he had lost any sense of taste, what with the blood in his mouth. In any event, if it was drugged the drug hadn’t affected his mind that he could tell. Tony added ‘major food issues’ to the list of problems he would have to deal with when he got out.

Tony must have passed out, because the door was opening.   He looked up blearily. _This was too soon. What?_ His thoughts felt sluggish and thick. Some of Doom’s guards dragged him out of the cell. They were going the wrong way, so they weren’t going back to the torture chamber. Did Doom want him dragged in to gloat? It was too soon… His head was spinning. Why couldn’t he wake up? He couldn’t keep his eyes open, but he was fairly certain he was dragged through a shower of some kind: concrete floor, not tiles; hard, but not smooth.

More dragging, and then he was dropped again. He loved this place, it was soft. His head felt like it was full of wool as he collapsed onto the soft floor.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as i hope the tags and the story summary have made somewhat clear...   
> RIGHT NOW Tony Stark is a prisoner.   
> right now all he has going for him is his wits and his plans.  
> but  
> look at his track record. he is not likely to stay a prisoner, for long.


	3. Creature Comforts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even the most comfortable prison, is still a prison.  
> Captain Jean-Luc Picard

Tony drifted in and out of waking and sleeping. He kept trying to wake up, but his body was betraying him and he kept sliding back down. He was lying on something softer than stones for the first time in an age, and his body had more sense than he did. Eventually, however, biology ran into its own limits.

He opened his eyes. There was a plate of actual honest-to-God food on the floor not 3 feet away, and -of more urgent need- a chamber pot and a tub of baby wipes. As he made use of THAT blessed set of items he got his first look at his new prison.

He’d been moved into a bedroom or small apartment. There was a giant bed on the other side of the room, not far from which was a bookshelf. The bed looked tall enough to make him feel like he was a child in an adult’s bedroom.  There were a few chairs, and a table with a bowl of fruit and laptop on it! Tony reflexively started toward the laptop and came up short with a jerk on his neck. He shook the last cobwebs out of his mind.

_Ok, you can do it, kick the starter over and THINK…_

He was chained to the wall by a collar. The collar on his neck was metal and his fingers couldn’t find out how it closed-magnetic?- or how it was attached to that chain, which was attached, apparently permanently, to that wall. He had maybe five feet of chain length: more than enough to lie down or get to the chamber pot and food, but nowhere near enough to reach the furniture or laptop. His arms and legs were free for once, which was something he was grateful for. He grabbed the plate of food and sat down on the pile of soft stuff. Oh. He had woken up lying on a pile of blankets against the wall.   He realized another thing had changed when he saw the blue glow reflecting off his plate: the wrappings on his chest were gone. He didn’t know if he was happy or sad about that: the reactor light would mean he had light to see by- at least a little- but the chest bandages had been his only clothes for the past while.

There was an empty cup and a full jug of something pushed up against the wall. Tony rapidly determined the liquid to be some kind of electrolyte drink. He forced himself to drink slowly. Obviously, the bowl of mush last night had been drugged, to facilitate moving him. He wondered how long he had been unconscious, because, other than that wickedly bad need to pee when he had woken up, he actually felt much better. His tongue didn’t hurt from biting it, his neck and jaw, which usually hurt from the spasms, were blessedly not aching, and his back… well, that might be just from not trying to sleep on rocks. He could have been given pain medication before he woke up, but he didn’t see any sign of injection marks. For that matter, the sensor adhesive marks, which had been getting pretty bad, were all gone.

With a sudden chill he looked around the room again. He was chained to the wall. The bed, and all the furniture, was out of his reach. Everything in here was built for someone much taller than he was, and, while it lacked the opulence of anything Doom would stay in, it wasn’t the room of a servant. This wasn’t a cell for him; this wasn’t Doom’s personal rooms; this was Loki’s.

HE was Loki’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> since this is a very short chapter, I will try to update before next Monday.
> 
>  
> 
> comments make me very happy


	4. Adversarial Relationship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Honor bespeaks worth. Confidence begets trust. Service brings satisfaction. Cooperation proves the quality of leadership.  
> James Cash Penney

Tony had gone over every scrap of information he had about Asgard in general, and Loki in specific, several times over. It wasn’t enough information, and what information he had didn’t make sense. Either what Thor remembered was insanely biased to the point of clinical delusion, or Loki wasn’t behaving normally when he was last on earth. Or both, it could be both.

The door to the room finally opened and Loki entered, alone. Tony stood up. He was using one of the blankets as a make shift wrap, which at least gave him something to do with his hands. Loki closed the door and walked over to stand in front of Tony, at the edge of chain reach. Tony didn’t move. He was focusing every last brain cell he had on analyzing Loki: the Loki in front of him; the Loki that right now was the key to his survival.

“You seem recovered enough, Stark, although obviously only your body not your wits.” Loki’s voice was softer than it had been before, but just as menacing.

“Guess I owe you one for that, Reindeer Games, unless I was unconscious a lot longer than it seems, but lunch was definitely sub-par and the wine list was missing.” He put about half power into his usual snark and watched Loki’s eyes.

The flash of surprise in Loki’s eyes was followed by interest, not anger.

“You prefer the food in Doom’s care?” Loki threat purred.

“While it was better when it wasn’t drugged,” Tony drawled, “I’m still gonna have to give him a bad review. If I have to put up with lousy food I expect scantily clad waitresses at least. Besides, the bathrooms were filthy.”

Tony caught the faint smirk on Loki’s face and started to believe that he just might live through this one.

“I believe that. Even after a bath you smell, hence your distance from my belongings.”

“Bath? Oh, yeah the guards dragged me through a very brief shower on route here. Mostly dropped me on the concrete floor and hosed me off. Hardly a bath.”

“Really? You were supposed to have been bathed before you were brought here. Of course I am surprised you recall.”

Tony sat down and poured the last of the electrolyte stuff into his cup. He raised it to Loki: “To your health.” Tony lowered his eyes toward his cup as he drank, but watched Loki through his eyelashes.

Loki was looking increasingly agitated. Tony was grateful the height difference, even standing, would have hidden his eyes. Seated against the wall with a cup to hide part of his face, he was unreadable.

“You would drink to my health, Stark?” Loki probably would have sounded politely amused to anyone less observant, but to Tony he heard a dangerous undercurrent. _Ah, he thinks I’m mocking him. He’s pretty touchy about that._

“I’m not stupid, Lokes, I’d rather belong to you than Doom any day of the week. You have honor.”

It was all Tony could do not to grin triumphantly as he saw the words hit. Tony was suddenly sure he was right: Thor was delusional. Loki may be behaving really oddly, but Thor was clearly delusional about how Loki was treated back home.

Loki stalked over and hauled him to his feet by the chain. “You say that? You?! Thor’s shield brother?” Loki managed to make that last comment sound like an insult.

Now to both emphasize that, and downplay it. “Yeah, Thor’s shield brother: Thor’s shield brother who can’t even keep up with Natasha or Hawkeye in a fight. All I have going for me is my brains, and my ability to come up with better stuff than the other guy. Take my fancy suit off me and all I have left is my ability to think.” It didn’t take much to put a snarl into his voice. It was all true, and all too often he’d been underestimated for it. If he was right, it would hit Loki where he lived, too. “YOU have brains, and I may not understand you very well, but you’ve got some kind of honor, and that puts you miles ahead of Doom and how he treats a captured prisoner.”

Loki let go of the chain and backed up a step. “Indeed,” he said slowly, “your own condition is hardly a testament to his care.”

Tony stood up as straight as he could and looked Loki in the eye. “Yeah, well I always thought he was an asshole; now I think he’s a sadistic fool who hates anyone smarter than he is; which probably means everyone. What I can’t figure is why you’re here, Bambi, you’re out of his league.”

“Indeed, Stark.” Loki tilted his head and smiled down at Tony, “I am. When I break someone; they break.”

“Good thing you prefer witty commentary   then.”

“I do like witty commentary, Stark, you are quite correct.” Loki turned and walked over to the table and chairs and sat down in front of the laptop. “I also like hearing my enemies beg for mercy… or scream.”

Tony sat back down on the rugs. So far so good.

“Cool, as long as I get to be there.”

Loki tried to ignore that but eventually his confusion won and he turned to look at Tony. “Why wouldn’t you be there if you were begging for mercy?”

“Me, Blitzen? I never figured it would be me. I just want to be there when Doom finds out just how over his head he’s in.” Tony grinned viciously, “I owe him.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes this is an early update. chapter 3 and 4 were two of the shortest chapters, so ...  
> Happy Armistice Day. (Veterans Day here in the States)


	5. History

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.  
> Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Loki stared at him for at least a couple of seconds. Tony was putting pieces in place as fast as he could, but he worried it wouldn’t be fast enough. _I really should keep in better practice at this; if I had, maybe I wouldn’t have trusted the wrong people so many times._ Machines and electronics were so much simpler than people, even under the best of circumstances, and this definitely wasn’t the best of circumstances. He also never felt guilty making machines do what he wanted. He just hated doing this to people, it made his head ache and worse, his heart ache, and he wanted a drink.

“So, I don’t suppose there’s any chance of giving me a drink, is there?” He hadn’t meant to sound quite so defeated, but he supposed it wouldn’t hurt too much with Loki, as opposed to if someone more like Thor was holding him.

“I thought you still owed me one,“ Loki smirked at him.

“Yeah, well somehow I don’t-“ Tony was in the middle of that statement when Loki closed the laptop with a sharp click. It sounded exactly like the click of the cuffs on Doom’s torture machine. Tony was suddenly in remembered agony. He vaguely heard a soft footstep coming closer; _that wasn’t right, they should be louder._ Doom’s smirking assistant medical bastard was saying something to Doom about how much more his weakened heart could take.   His voice was silky smooth; _no it wasn’t, his voice was rough with a Latverian accent._ A cool hand held his wrists together while another gently touched his face; _the guards’ hands never touched gently_.

He came to himself back in Loki’s room. The lights were dimmed. His nest of blankets had been supplemented with a pillow and there was a fresh jug of drink within chain reach, but not close enough to knock over. Loki was no longer here, although it looked like the bed might have been slept in since he last saw it. The chamber pot was empty; Tony ended that, and then gave himself a sponge bath as best he could with the baby wipes. He tried to put his shattered recollections together.

Loki must have walked over, that would be the soft footsteps. He must have said something – who knows what- which would explain the silky voice. He had held his wrists and touched his face- probably as he came out of it, but his flashbacks had tried to put that in context of the guards. Great, just great; somehow Doom managed to mess this up without even being here.

\---

Tony had intended to stay awake and wait for Loki to return to the room; however, his traitorous body had other ideas. He woke up when the door opened.   Loki was carrying a tray that looked like it had food. Tony tried to look like anything other than a half starved dog in a kennel, but he was pretty sure he failed.

“Yes, it’s for you,” Loki said amusedly as he held out the tray.

Tony’s hands twitched. “Uh, thanks!” _Aw fuck no, just TAKE the tray..._ “Could you, um, put that down?”

Loki looked suspiciously at him and pulled the tray back. “Why, Stark, do you think I’m fool enough to lower my defenses for you? BOW before you?” The growl in his voice got progressively more dangerous with each word.

“Oh geez, NO! No… it’s...” Tony shook his head desperately. He couldn’t screw this up over his own stupid issues! Loki was taking this as a trick, or worse as mocking or belittling his intelligence. Tony had to show abject submission, and quick. Loki was pissed and Loki wasn’t rational when he was pissed. Maybe this could get turned to an advantage, though?

Tony dropped to his knees, hands clenched into fists on his thighs and head down. He let the shakiness show in his voice: “I… I can’t.”

Loki had gone from the edge of rage to a startled intake of breath when Tony hit the ground. He could feel Loki staring down at him, even imagine the confusion on his face. Loki strode forward and kicked him.

Even as the pain exploded across his side, Tony realized that hadn’t been anywhere near full strength. It didn’t take any acting, however, to forget any thoughts of returning the attack and just curl up gasping. Sometime later he became aware of Loki standing next to him. He tried to scramble away from the boot and screamed as his ribs shifted. _Aw fuck, if I puncture a lung!_ Tony gasped as black spots danced in front of his eyes alternating with pin pricks of blue white pain. Loki reached down and grabbed his wrists, dragging him to his feet. Tony blacked out.

\---

When Tony came to again he was certain a lot of time must have passed. Nothing hurt; he was lying in a nest of completely different blankets; the pillow was covered in a different fabric, and the food tray lying in front of his nose had different food on it. His eyes tracked to a pair of boots not far from the tray. He lifted his head wearily to find the expected leathers and green clad legs, then put his head back down.

Loki asked him, “Are you recovered enough to eat?”

“I never figured you for kicking a prisoner who wasn’t mouthing off.” Tony couldn’t manage to work up any concern about it; he was just too tired. He really hadn’t thought it was likely, after all, so he must have made some mistake in his calculations. It might be just cultural assumptions, but if his mistake was serious enough, he was dead- or worse.

“I… would not. I was perplexed, and intended only to knock you to the floor for your insolence.” Loki’s voice had an unusual hesitance to it. “As well as to see if you were lying.”

_Huh, well that would have been more understandable…_

“I continually forget how fragile Midgardians are. I suppose I expected you to be sturdier since you have been in battle alongside… others.” Loki sounded almost apologetic.

_He was acknowledging a mistake?_

“Well, I may go into battle with people a lot tougher than I am, but I’m normally in my suit. Besides, I haven’t exactly been staying at a health spa lately, what with Doom capturing me _.” Remind the guy that I’m more like him than Thor; hit the ‘brave despite being fragile’ points; and remind him that I’ve been treated badly and that he didn’t capture me. Not bad for two sentences, now to see if it worked…_

Loki stood silently for a long while.

Tony managed to drag himself up-without pain, which was incredible- and started to eat. Once he put food in his mouth he was ravenous, but after he’d eaten a bit he had to admit the food wasn’t bad. Definitely something local to Latveria, most of it, but the sausage was fantastic and the mashed not-potato was delicious. He caught himself moaning in sheer pleasure as he ate.

Loki had gone back to his chair. He didn’t say anything until after Tony had finished the food.

“Why wouldn’t you take the food?” Loki asked. There didn’t seem to be any hostility in the question anymore.

“I…” Tony thought through several different answers and finally decided the truth was good enough. “I can’t really tell you... Mostly because I’m not sure myself,” he added hurriedly.

“It just… every time I get handed stuff someone’s trying to hurt me, or its awful news, or… something.” He stared down at his hands. “I never liked being handed stuff; maybe I got it from my father, but I never liked it. After… after Afghanistan it got worse. I couldn’t stand it.”

“Afghanistan?” Loki looked perplexed. “Isn’t that a country?”

Tony snorted. “It used to be; now it’s a mess.” He looked up at Loki. His face was impassive; no telling how much he knew or didn’t know. “Afghanistan was the first time I was tortured: deliberately, physically tortured I mean.”

“Were you not rescued? YOU, after all, are a well-loved and important prince among your people.” Loki sounded bitter, so this must have something to do with Thor.

“No.” Tony said, watching Loki’s face as best he could, given his own issues right now, “No one rescued me; no one cared. No one was even looking for me as far as I knew.  I had to rescue myself.”

Loki looked as if he’d been knifed.

Tony wondered what he’d said that had hit that far home.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in all honesty, i *should* have expanded this and broken the chapter at each time Tony passed out. but that would have left some very short (and nothing much happening) chapters. so i rushed through this a bit.


	6. Exposure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength.  
> Criss Jami

 

Tony had almost dropped off into sleep again – traitorous body, closing his eyes on him- when Loki next spoke: “You need a bath.”

“Huh? … Oh, yeah, yes, I guess I do.” Tony tried to sniff, but after the cell nothing less than a team of assault skunks was likely to get noticed. “Sorry, after the cell…”

“Come.” Loki waved his hand and the chain somehow detached from the wall and was in his hand.

Tony fell in behind Loki. While it might make more sense to keep a prisoner in front of you, or beside you, if he was going to emphasize the ‘valued servant’ role he wanted to hit all the cues he could. Loki walked out the door with Tony following him keeping the leash slack. _If he says ‘Good dog’ I WILL bite him,_ then Tony sighed to himself and admitted he wouldn’t. _But I’d want to._

They left the room and almost immediately encountered the first guard. Tony’s first thought was that the guard was terrible at pretending he wasn’t keeping an eye on Loki’s door, his second was to remember he was naked. Tony momentarily froze and the chain went taut. Loki looked back questioningly and then smiled in some mild amusement at his reaction to the guard. Tony just took a deep breath and followed after him.

“I was paraded through the city streets when I was sent home,” Loki said as though this was a perfectly normal conversation.

Tony walked after him, keeping his eyes fixed on the hand holding his leash, as they passed more guards and a few servants. “You weren’t naked.”

“Without my magics? I may as well have been.” Loki could have easily been discussing what to have for lunch from the casual tone, an amusing lunch maybe. “You get used to it.”

Tony wondered again whether Thor and Loki actually grew up in the same Asgard.

After quite a few turns and more staring eyes than he cared to think about they came to the baths. Tony realized he had been expecting, you know, a bath? Not ‘the baths’. They had entered a beautifully tiled room, with showerheads along one wall, and a deep rectangular pool. A lion’s head on the back wall poured steaming water into the bath. The room was blessedly warm after the cold hallways. Tony hated doing this, but the way his body had been betraying him he had no choice.

“I… uh… may not be able to.” Tony kept his head level and his hands at his sides.

“?” Loki was probably the only person Tony knew with a forceful enough personality that you could actually HEAR a question mark.

“In Afghanistan… they used water.” Tony refused to let his voice shake.

Loki took hold of Tony’s shoulders and turned them both so that Tony was facing Loki, and the door, with his back to the pool. Tony was mildly distracted by the fact that Loki’s hands were firm, but gentle enough to not cause any discomfort. He realized that he had expected any contact with Loki to be painful.

“Can you not take baths at all?” Loki’s voice sounded coolly amused.

“It took a while. I usually shower. I finally got to being ok with a bath.” Tony’s words were coming out more clipped than he intended. _God damn Loki for mocking him._ “Right now I’m just a bit touchy.”

“Indeed,” Loki said drily. “Then shower. I, on the other hand am long overdue for my bath.” Loki somehow unhooked the chain from Tony’s collar and released his grip.

Tony moved reflexively to the shower heads. He was shaking as the water and soap started washing the residue of sweat and nightmares from his skin. His mind started processing properly again after he started smelling soap. Soap didn’t remind him of Afghanistan; soap just mean safety and post battle clean up and hangover recovery.

He was beginning to think Loki hadn’t been mocking him. Maybe he just sounded amused? He had sounded amused when he talked about walking his thrall naked through the halls, too. Tony was beginning to be concerned about just how little solid information he actually had on Loki, when Loki walked naked into the showers with him.

Tony cursed himself for being surprised. Of course he knew better: you always wash off before you soak in a bath. Loki would at least wash off quickly in the showers.

Loki held out his hand for the soap. Tony figured it was reflexive, to expect the servant to start handing you things. Not that different from a spa attendant. Loki seemed to realize what he was doing and began to pull his hand back; Tony placed the soap bar into his hand before he could finish the gesture.

 _I don’t want to be too subservient, though_. Tony turned away to finish rinsing off, before Loki could do more than begin to look questioningly at him. He had gotten a pretty good look at the god just handing him the soap. His skin was a perfect alabaster all over with not the slightest hint of a tan line anywhere. Tony had been surprised that Loki had a small smattering of freckles, like constellations here and there over his body. He had been equally surprised to find out that Loki’s body hair was nearly nonexistent, given Thor’s pelt. It made him look very young, like a statue of Adonis. Nothing like those statues below the belt, though, Tony realized. The Greeks depicted pretty boys with immature and unresponsive dicks, befitting their ‘boy as young woman’ fixation. Loki would not have ever been mistaken for ‘immature’ below the belt. Tony’s thoughts went back to the fact that the ancient Greeks and Norse shared similar views on the role of men in bed.

Tony walked out of the shower to the towels without looking back. He made no move toward the door; it would have been futile anyway. The seating benches were a bit further away than might be comfortable without getting express permission, though. Tony was about to ask when the shower turned off and Loki walked past him into the bath.

His back!

Tony froze in shock looking at Loki’s back as he walked down the steps into the bath. Tony had seen Loki heal from the most horrendous injuries -including his face being used to bash holes in his building floor by an annoyed Hulk-without a mark. His back had marks; lots of them. Tony saw faint traces of what looked like whip marks, shadows of what looked like knife cuts, and other marks he couldn’t identify. The worst, though, was a scar that looked like a really bad burn, or maybe acid, across his back. It looked almost like someone had poured special effects latex in a pooling diagonal from shoulder to hip.

“I was…” Tony took a deep breath, “I was wondering if the bench over there was too far away.”

Loki just extended a hand in a permissive gesture and sank into the water.

Tony tried to walk over to the bench as if everything was perfectly normal. He sat down and tried to force himself to focus. This didn’t change anything, it was just more puzzling information. That’s all. Really. He looked back at Loki, half submerged in the bath on the seats. He was tall enough that most of his chest was out of the water until he leaned back with a faint sigh. Tony desperately wanted a lot more information. _Where was ‘Fodor’s Guide to Asgard’ when you needed it?_ On second thought, maybe it should be more like an automotive guide to Loki… God knows Loki was a damn sight more responsive, and prone to explosions, than most of his sports cars.

And that was not the factory finish on his back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	7. Trust Issues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not everyone can be trusted. I think we all have to be very selective about the people we trust.  
> Shelley Long

Tony had plenty of time to think while Loki soaked in the bath. Much to his surprise, Loki was apparently capable of being kind. He was also amazingly easy to manipulate; the problem was that he was explosive. Loki had a ton of unknown triggers, in addition to the ones Tony knew about, which made controlling him from this end of the leash unusually risky. Tony contemplated the shattered ribs of… yesterday? Well, the last time he had been awake anyway. On the negative side, he’d almost died and it hurt; on the positive side, Loki was actually apologetic sounding and had pretty well admitted to a mistake. He’d tote that up as a win.

Sex was a possible issue. Apparently the Asgardian culture matched up with historical earth well enough in some ways, sexual roles especially. Between men there was no shame in being the dominant partner, but being the receptive partner-being sodomized- was a major loss of status. Thralls, of course, would be expected to take the ‘female’ role. Tony kept his face carefully neutral as he contemplated the best course of action. He obviously couldn’t outright refuse if that was what Loki wanted. The questions were complex: DID Loki expect or want to have sex with him? Would he feel it was socially obligatory even if didn’t want to? What were Loki’s actual interests, if any, as opposed to socially acceptable interests? Would it be better for Tony’s long term status to appear willing or unwilling to be receptive? Tony hated being forced to work this all out under these conditions; there were just too many variables.

Tony moved over to the towels as soon as Loki showed signs of moving. He wanted to hand him his towel, but he didn’t want to be ordered to do it. “I obviously can’t wear your clothes, not being built for the runway like you are, Princess, but I doubt Doom likes to replace his towels. Any chance of getting a pair of pants? Or at least socks?” Tony asked, and handed Loki a towel as if they were just two friends at a spa.   The constant balancing act to reinforce ‘trusted servant’ without going over to ‘unimportant slave’ was extremely taxing.

Loki took the towel without comment, although he looked a bit puzzled.

“Your issues with being handed things do not extend to handing others objects, apparently,” he said drily, glancing in the direction of the showers and the soap.

Tony blinked. _Oh, that honestly had never occurred to me_. “No. I hand people things all the time. It’s only when someone hands stuff to ME that it gets weird.” Tony followed him over to his neatly folded clothes. “So far the only people who can hand me stuff without a problem are people I trust absolutely. That’s… a really small number.”

Loki didn’t seem to expect help dressing, which was good because his clothing fastened in surprisingly complex ways. Tony made note of it just in case.

“How small a number?” Loki asked while he was pulling on his boots.

“These days? Two,” Tony answered, and then qualified that, “on a good day.”

“On a not good day?”

“One.” Tony ruthlessly suppressed any thoughts of Pepper being happy about his absence and possible death. _She isn’t Obie. She didn’t even want me to go._

“I would have thought at least five.” Loki stood up and walked to the door. He stopped to pick up the chain and glanced back at Tony.

“Why five?” Tony asked as he moved to stand behind him and to his right again, this time placing himself a bit closer. Not quite ‘beside’ the god, but not quite as far behind him. He kept his eyes on Loki’s face, not the chain in his hands, and glanced questioningly at the door.

“Your shield brothers are four, or five, depending on who counts.” Loki was moving the chain through his hands in what Tony was beginning to think was a sort of unconscious nervous tic, like he’d played with his knife before. That was useful, if he had a tactile quirk.

“The Avengers?” Tony didn’t have to fake the grin. “I don’t trust them that much. Only one of them is included, and he’s the ‘on a good day’.”

Loki looked darkly at him. “And what has Thor done to earn such trust?”

 _Damn! He was really hung up on a competition with his brother, wasn’t he?_    Tony shook his head, still grinning, “Sorry, Princess, no Asgardians on the list so far. I meant Doctor Banner.”

Loki’s hands stilled on the chain. “The monster who pretends to be a man? Why?”

 _I will not let my temper fuck this up. I will not let my temper fuck this up_. Tony let the smile fade off his face, but managed to keep his expression neutral. “Because he’s never lied to me.”

Loki looked curiously at him. “Has Thor?”

Tony shrugged. “Not that I know of, but then again I haven’t given him much opportunity. Why? Did you think we were close or something?”

“You went into battle together.”

“At the time, we had a common cause.” Tony carefully didn’t say a ‘common enemy’. “However, unless he chooses to move to America or something, I have to assume his first loyalty is to Asgard, right?” He saw Loki nod and continued, “I don’t know that much about Asgard, but what I do know doesn’t recommend it.” He pointedly glanced at the door. “Are we going? Or should I go park on that bench for some more time. Hard floors and standing in bare feet don’t mix really well.” _Keep up the balancing act of shield brother but not friends, see how he responds to a slight authority push, and reinforce a request for clothes, especially shoes. This is either going to work spectacularly well, or they’ll be hosing off the blood in here_. Tony tried to look casually bored, and not tense.

Loki looked at him thoughtfully and then shrugged. “Come.” The door flickered with green light and opened in front of them. Loki walked back down the hallways to his room on his long legs, with Tony trotting slightly to keep up.

Tony tried really hard not to grin where any of Doom’s guards could see him. Let them report that Loki was taking a naked prisoner around in the hallways, sure, not like he could stop that, but they wouldn’t be able to report the important parts. He doubted Doom would understand them anyway.

Loki had shown him consideration, compassion even, and wasn’t pushing his limits.

Tony had pushed his authority and Loki hadn’t pushed back.

Tony was no longer on a leash.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have an early update! yes, you still get a chapter on Monday.


	8. Lead and Follow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My grief lies all within, And these external manners of lament Are merely shadows to the unseen grief That swells with silence in the tortured soul  
> William Shakespeare

They got back to the room without incident, although Tony hated the whispers and the feeling of being stared at. He didn’t mind the two maids who had looked flushed and giggled, that was ok, but the guards smirking at him made him feel dirty. He was so glad when the door shut behind them with a flicker of green.

Without any warning Loki grabbed him by the throat and hissed “what are you up to?”

Tony had a moment of panic as he was lifted to his toes. _Shit, shit, shit, what did I miss? Ok, calm down, you pushed, he’s pushing back. You planned for something like this._ “What did I do wrong?” he asked as calmly as he could, given the circumstances.

“Nothing!” Snarled Loki. He dropped his hand from Tony’s throat. Tony staggered and gasped. He made a point of looking hurt and confused at Loki.

“Kneel!” Loki was staring at Tony’s face.

 _Heh. If we ever play poker I’ll end up owning Asgard_. Tony kept a confused look on his face, projecting ‘what on earth did I DO’ as strongly as he could, while he sank to his knees.

Loki started pacing back and forth on those long legs of his. It wasn’t an act to watch him warily, not after being kicked that hard. Loki spun and strode over at the kneeling Tony. “Doesn’t it bother you to kneel before me? To be my slave?!” he snarled.

“Well, yeah.” Tony looked confused and mentally added _‘is this a trick question?’_

Loki froze, staring down at him. He looked so confused it was all Tony could do not to laugh.

Tony kept a serious face. “But like I said before, I’d rather belong to you than Doom any day” Tony looked at Loki’s boots warily. Loki backed up a step. _Oh, you are so damned easy, Rudolph_

Loki pulled himself back together, although his rage seemed to have lost some steam. “The last time we met, you said you would never submit, that you would avenge my actions. Where is your pride now?”

If he isn’t careful he’s going to start sounding like Doom, although his voice is a lot more pleasant to listen to. “Must have left it in my other suit.” He couldn’t entirely keep the smirk out of his voice.

Loki, unfortunately, seemed to have picked that up. There was a flicker of green light and Loki’s clothing was gone.

Right. Well, it wasn’t unexpected. I’ve been pushing him and pushing him, he was going to try to reestablish some dominance; looks like this is it.

“Very well, you say you understand your place? That you submit? I will take you as a woman in my bed and have you beg.” It was actually surprisingly arousing to hear him say that. Tony wondered if it could ever be possible to trust Loki enough to let him top; he doubted it. While he was willing to appease the Asgardian notions of sexuality if it got him what he wanted, Loki was so very malleable. _I wonder._ Tony knew this was a bad idea. This was going to backfire spectacularly. Loki simply wouldn’t take a less than absolutely dominant role in bed, would he?

“Well if you insist, but you’re squandering my best assets.”

Tony stood up. It was obvious from the cruel smirk on Loki’s face that he expected him to run, or fight, or maybe plead. _Never let your opponent dictate your terms, Rudolph, you should have studied SunTzu._ Tony walked up and put both hands on Loki’s chest and looked up at him. Loki looked so delightfully confused that Tony almost felt sorry for him, almost. He really was a good looking guy, always had been. Tony liked the way Loki looked nude, but he wanted to see him in a proper suit again; he’d looked so fuckably hot at the party in Stuttgart. He ran his hands up to Loki’s shoulders and reached up to kiss him.

Loki was stunned enough to just stand there without much response. Now it was up to his ability to read Loki’s responses, and a couple decades of practical experience.

Tony melted his lips into Loki’s and opened his mouth just a little. It was a passive seeming lead that demanded a response, and Loki followed beautifully. Tony pulled Loki’s tentative tongue into his mouth and deepened the kiss. Loki fell into Tony’s embrace and made the faintest moan in the back of his throat. Tony experimentally sucked on Loki’s lower lip before demanding Loki’s tongue and mouth again.

 _Hadn’t this poor man ever had anyone KISS him?_ Tony didn’t know whether to feel delight or pity; this wasn’t even going to be a challenge.

Tony kept his attention on his mouth, while he ran his hands down his shoulders and arms to his hands. His hands were sensitive, were they? Let’s find out just how sensitive. Tony pulled Loki’s hands free and placed his hands in them. He began rubbing his thumbs in little circles around the back of Loki’s hands while they kissed. Loki’s hands spasmd shut on Tony’s. Tony began moving them toward the bed. He didn’t think Loki was going to object.

Tony moved his mouth to Loki’s jawline and began to kiss and lick his way along his jaw to his neck. Loki’s hands fluttered on Tony’s hands clutching and releasing.   Loki growled and bit at Tony’s neck, his tongue describing complex figures under Tony’s jaw.

Tony revised his opinions; Loki damned well knew what HE was doing. Tony’s brain stuttered for a moment before he managed to hoarsely state into Loki’s ear, “the height issues won’t matter so much lying down.”

In an instant Loki rolled them both backwards onto the bed, somehow ending up with Tony pinned down on the bed under him.

Tony would have panicked a lot more except that Loki was doing something positively obscene to Tony’s throat with his tongue. Tony, however, hated losing a challenge, so he recaptured Loki’s mouth with his own. No, Loki was experienced, but clearly no one had ever kissed him who knew how. When Tony was certain that he had tongue wrestled the title of silver-tongued from him, he broke from the kiss to whisper in Loki’s ear, “I know some interesting things to do with my mouth in other places, if you’ll stop pinning me down.”

Loki pushed himself up off of Tony and looked down at him, his hair blocking out the room in an inky curtain. Tony ran his hands over Loki’s chest, watching him through chestnut eyelashes. He suddenly realized why Loki was so responsive to almost every motion of Tony’s hands, Loki was touch starved. If he had been touched, judging from his back, it wasn’t pleasant.  

Tony slid down slightly on the bed, now that he wasn’t pinned in place. Loki was holding himself casually with his weight off of Tony, his muscles showing no strain at all. Tony let instinct take over- paying his lover like a fine violin- moving his hands constantly over Loki’s body, and using his tongue to find every secret spot on Loki’s chest. Tony gently guided Loki to roll over and lie on his back on the bed, continuing to trace out Loki’s nerves with his tongue. He brought one of Loki’s hands up between them so Loki could watch, and started to make love to his fingers. Loki shuddered and melted, his eyes going dark, as Tony sucked two of Loki’s fingers into his mouth and then darted out his tongue to lick Loki’s palm. He could feel Loki shudder against his groin and legs.

 _Touch starved, that made sense_. The last pieces of the puzzle started falling into place. Tony brought Loki’s hand up to his face, and started moving Loki’s hands to where he wanted them by sliding them down his chest to his waist. Loki caught on quickly, running his hands over Tony with those long slender fingers. _Long slender fingers that could crush steel_ , Tony reminded himself as he went back to tracing nerves with his fingers and lips.

 _There was good… not so much… sensitive spot… bad memories..._ Tony traced out Loki’s mind through his lips on Loki’s skin. He might be a great liar with his mouth, but his body was an open book.   _Someone had hurt him touching there… that spot was good… the scar there wasn’t sexual; he could still enjoy that…_ Tony felt Loki tense as his fingers brushed across Loki’s perineum. _Shame… hurt…_ he moved his fingers on as if he hadn’t noticed, ghosting his lips across Loki’s cock. He smelled clean, the soap covering a faint smell of musk, of something that smelled somehow green- not like leaves, like emeralds- and of winter.

_Loki wanted touch… wanted him… wanted trust… wanted to lose himself…_

_He was probably bi or pansexual, definitely a submissive… or a switch maybe? Yes that felt right… in a culture that demanded he be straight and if not that at least a complete dominant…_

_and he’d been raped._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you wander over to my "Someone Had to Say it" series, there is a document for references, it includes a lot of information on Vikings and sexuality.


	9. Tree of Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.  
> Sun Tzu

 

Tony supposed it might be odd for other people: sex as a means of mind reading. Lie detectors worked on the same principle, though, in the end: the body reacted; the body remembered. You could fool a lie detector of course, but it was wires and unnatural and cold and little graphs, not warm fingers and a tongue. Also, even with a lie detector you had to be prepared, and so few people were prepared. After a while- after you learned- it was more than lie detection. That was the least of it.

 _It really is unfair, the advantage this gives me._ Of course this only works if your enemies let you touch them all over, and you have freedom to act on it. Tony felt his control slip a little; as long as you remember never to trust anyone and only when you’re willing to manipulate them like this.   It was ok now, with his life on the line, but he couldn’t bring himself to use people like this, to break through their defenses and control them like this, when they were friends. When he swore they were friends. When he trusted them. His betrayers’ ghosts rose up and tried to drag him down.

He threw the lot of them out of his head and went back to taking Loki apart.

Loki was lying back on the bed, shuddering. Tony had mapped out every nerve with his tongue, and now he was teasing Loki’s exposed head, and his pre-cum beaded on Tony’s lips. He ran his tongue across Loki’s slit and teased under his foreskin. _Lucky for me so many of the men I’d slept with were uncircumcised, this would be a lousy time to learn the differences_. Loki showed signs of regaining coherence, and Tony ended that by licking a stripe from his balls to his tip. Loki gasped and destroyed a bit more of the bed with his fingers; for good measure Tony ran his tongue back down the other side.

He lifted his head up and spoke softly into Loki’s stomach: “I need you to grab the bed again; you don’t want to break me.”

Loki managed a shaky nod and dug his fingers through the bed.

Tony looked at the remains of the mattress and looked up at Loki. “Grab the headboard”-he dropped any pretense of submission, then; he just couldn’t keep it up- “It’s going to get better.” And that was a threat.

Tony saw the shift in power as though it was a visible thing. Loki’s hands obeyed him, reaching up to grab the metal of the headboard when they should have reached down to grab him and hurl him away. Tony felt his headspace switch from leading from beneath, to utter, ruthless, domination; and he smiled down at Loki, stretched taught and hard on the bed under him.

_I could destroy him._

_I could save him._

And Tony honestly didn’t know which way it would end up, but right now he needed him. Tony bent his head down and swallowed Loki whole, from branches to root.

He relaxed his throat and Loki arched and twisted underneath him. Then he swallowed, with Loki still full length in his throat, and the muscles tensing and pulsing down his cock, and Loki came undone. He was making noises that were halfway between begging and screaming, and his hands were twisting in the headboard. Tony swallowed again and pulled back, and Loki arched up almost in half trying to keep inside him. Tony released him with a soft popping noise, and then slid his tongue down Loki’s shaft. Loki was making little panting noises. Tony started sucking on the tip of Loki’s cock, and then taking his head just into his mouth, then out, then in again.

He ran his hands over the nerves in Loki’s chest-it must have felt like fire- and Loki begged in some language Tony didn’t know, but it sounded lust-blown and sincere.

Tony went back to work, bringing Loki to the brink again, and again, and again, using his hands and his tongue and his teeth. Eventually the headboard was shattering and tearing apart; Tony was impressed- even untrained, Loki had stamina- but it was time to finish this.

He moved up and took Loki’s face in his hands _. God, he was a work of art. His hair had curls in it, who knew?_ When the sweat and the passion had wrung the control out of him and his black hair was sprayed across the remains of the pillow, he had curls. His eyes were black, right now, to match his hair, with just the thinnest sliver of green around them. Tony remembered when someone had done this to him, so long ago: they hadn’t really understood what they were doing, and the effects had lasted years. Tony stared down into his eyes and smiled. “I know what I’m doing, Loki. Just trust me and it will feel wonderful.”   Loki tried to nod, Tony could tell; he just wasn’t moving well right now.

Tony slid back down and went faster, all hungry teeth and sucking and swallowing him down, while his hands traced patterns across his groin and thighs. Loki came while his hands tore the headboard clean in half. Tony swallowed the pearl of his life and energy and licked his lips hungrily for more.

Loki collapsed. Tony wasn’t surprised; he had, the first time someone had done this to him, and they were an amateur. Tony wondered if it was worse for someone like Loki, for someone who wielded power directly. Loki’s own energy had traced green fire through his nerves as Tony had climbed his body. Perhaps that was why he had tasted so good, like there was more of his essence in it. In Tony, now, he supposed.

He would be kind, Tony resolved before he slid down to fall asleep on the ruined bed, and the ruined god. He would help him recover from whatever tortures he’d had inflicted on him. He would teach him to enjoy receptive sex, too, despite the rape. Tony turned to adjust himself so his collar wouldn’t cut into his skin while he slept.

_Perhaps one day I’ll even let him go._

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> seriously, read the tags. grin.


	10. Second Language

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life experience is what defines our character, even if it means getting your heart broken or being lied to. You know, you need the downs to appreciate the ups. Going on the adventure or taking that risk is important.  
> Nev Schulman

 

Sometime in the middle of sleep, the bed gave up and collapsed. Tony just rolled over and threw a possessive arm over Loki and went back to sleep. He didn’t even really wake up when his Loki-pillow moved out from under him. It was the cold knife on the back of his neck that woke him up, finally.

The adrenaline lashed fire from his root to his crown. His hands twitched and dug into the shredded mattress. “I really, REALLY, hope that’s you, Loki.”

A silky voice, just as sharp as the knife- _yes, that was Loki_ \- “Why shouldn’t I kill you?”

“Um… is there any reason you should?” His body was on fire, adrenaline demanding he run, or fight. He forced himself to be very still.

“You have magic, Stark.”

 _Shit_ "I do?” He quickly changed tactics as the blade touched the back of his neck just a bit more and he felt warm drops running down his neck. “Ok, ok, fine, maybe? But not like you do.” _I don’t even believe in it._

“Put your hands behind your back, slowly, and don’t touch me.” Loki’s voice was a threat. _Loki’s voice was really sexy when he sounded like that_. Tony very slowly and carefully put his hands behind his back. Loki dropped a pair of handcuffs into them. “Put them on.”

“Tell me what’s wrong; tell me what I did-“ the knife moved to a new spot on his neck, just over the jugular.

“One tiny motion, Stark, even as much as a twitch, and you bleed to death. Shut up.”

Tony held very still. Loki held very still. The knife rested on his pulse.

Eventually, Loki moved the knife. “Don’t move, and don’t speak.”

The weight moved off the bed. _What the living hell went wrong? It was all going so well, and now this? He noticed the energy manipulation? Wait, did that mean it was really magic, not just psychology… did it? Oh shit I’m in so far over my head…_

Tony was lost enough in panic that he didn’t hear Loki come back. Loki pulled his head back up off the pillows. He’s wearing gloves? A gag was shoved into his mouth. Tony tried to fight that one, after all his mouth was his best weapon, but it didn’t work. After that he was blindfolded. Then he was hauled off the bed and shoved back into his nest of blankets. He could hear the click of the chain and feel its weight as he was reattached to the wall. Loki moved away.

He heard the door open and close. Fuck.

This was bad. This was very bad. Even if he could get out of the handcuffs- and he probably could, he’d practiced that- the collar and chain were inescapable.

The sensory deprivation was going to be a problem. He was starting to float. Well, he might as well use it, he supposed. He let the various problems and questions drift through his mind.

He started wondering how long he’d been here: he couldn’t answer that one; it depended on how long he’d been unconscious when he was healing.

_The bath would have been lovely. If he got another chance he wanted a warm bath…_

He wondered how he’d managed to mess up with Loki that badly: cultural differences for the most part, he thought. He really didn’t know enough about Asgard, and expectations. Also Loki had clearly not grown up under the same conditions that Thor had.

_Loki’s green eyes gone black with lust under him…_

He wondered about the magic comment. If his Tantric and other practices were actually magic, then that might explain how a sorcerer like Loki noticed it. However that meant it was magic and not just a different language for talking about psychological conditioning and trained sensitivity. That was an unnerving idea.

_Aubrey leaning over him, murmuring the words that changed his life…_

He wondered if Doom had used the codes. He thought he must have, since no one was trying to get them anymore. If so they were on a countdown to rescue, or trouble at least. Without knowing how long he’d been here, though, he couldn’t estimate how long until help arrived.

_Flying through the air… falling…_

After a very long time, he heard the door open again. He heard a laugh, it sounded like Doom being Doom. There was the sound of guards and movement, and then the door slamming shut and locking.

There were a lot of odd sounds, like stumbling? Crawling, Tony finally decided. Then silence. Tony fought to stay anchored in reality.

After a short while someone was leaning up against him. A quick brush of fingertips told him that the new person had their hands cuffed behind their back too, but with the heavier Doom-cuffs.  Tony ran his fingertips down the new person’s back, and down their legs. They had a loose chain on their ankles, so they could probably walk, just not well. They must have wanted him to walk. They’d given up on Tony walking pretty quickly, and just dragged him.

Tony leaned over and found the new prisoner’s shoulder with his nose. They were tall, he guessed. They smelled fairly clean, so a recent prisoner he supposed. Tony got a flash of something: comfort? Familiarity? Something said this person was an ally. Tony had long ago learned to trust that kind of feeling, but even if he hadn’t it might be all the chance he got.

He enunciated as clearly as he could around the gag, “Can you understand me?”

He got a gagged sounding “Uh huh,” In reply.

“Gagged?”

“Obviously.”

Tony was fairly convinced that he might be the only person here fluent enough in gag to understand that, which meant his new roommate was an idiot. He should have stuck to yes or no, since he clearly didn’t know enough to enunciate around a gag.

“If you can’t be clear while gagged, stick to yes and no.” Tony was showing off, yes, and at least his fellow prisoner seemed impressed.

“How can you talk so clearly?” They asked, and oh man was that hard to understand. Probably anyone else would have just gotten mush. It had come out mostly as ‘hwkn oo awk o lrl’ or about that, but Tony really was fluent in gag. The sensory deprivation was still pulling him into altered consciousness, and he spent a minor eternity remembering the month he’d spent gagged, which was the beginning of this specific skill.

His thoughts were interrupted by his new roommate apparently trying to bash into him with his head.

“What?” Tony blinked back from a memory of being hand fed tiramisu.

“Are you ok?”

“Just thinking…. Hey, do you know if Loki is going to be back soon.”

For some reason the new person just snorted.

“Are you blindfolded?”

“No”

Well at least they learned fast. “Can you help me get my blindfold back on?”

“Back on?” They sounded like they were tiring. They must not be used to being gagged.

“Hang on” Tony flopped over and used their fingertips to push his blindfold up. Way better than having to rub against the wall. He sat back up and stared in shock.

His new roommate was a very stressed, gagged and cuffed, Loki.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oddly enough, being fluent in gag is a thing. especially if the gag isn't that great. It turns out that people with a lot of language practice, or vocal practice, can enunciate pretty clearly around a simple gag. (i took voice lessons, yes). It helps if you have practice in it. Tony said he spent a month mostly gagged, can you IMAGINE Tony being *quiet* for a month? yeah, not.


	11. Betrayals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will cramp his style.  
> Steven Brust

“Well, that’s not good,” Tony said around the gag after a moment.

Loki just rolled his eyes. Tony looked him over now that the blindfold was off: light bruising-no obvious marks otherwise; gagged; walking chain on his ankles; Doom-cuffs on his wrists. Tony couldn’t get over the idea that there was more wrong, however. Loki looked weaker, he looked… frightened- frightened, and trying like hell to cover it up with annoyed.

“Look me in the eyes,” Tony demanded, so of COURSE Loki promptly looked away, but his eyes had flickered to Tony’s briefly. _Yeah, that was fear, and some kind of deep hurt._

Tony cursed into his gag. He escaped his handcuffs and pulled his hands around in front of him. He was rubbing his wrists when he saw Loki’s eyes widen in shock. Tony reached up and unfastened the gag. He worked his mouth slightly and reached over for the jug of electrolytes that was still tucked up against the wall.

“Thanks for leaving this, by the way,” Tony said, very sincerely, as he drank a cup full. He reached over and removed Loki’s gag, then held the refilled cup to his lips. Tony had been trying to stifle laughter at the shocked and bewildered looks Loki had been giving him over the gag when he pulled his hands free, but seeing Loki fall back into trust and submission over the cup was a bit worrying.

“Loki… what happened?” Tony tried to keep his voice gentle.

“Doom decided he didn’t need my help anymore, and decided to take my power directly. I underestimated him.” Loki’s voice lacked authority.

Tony wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but first things first. “Ok, first of all, how long do we have? Any idea how long until someone comes back?”

Loki blinked at him. “A few hours, at least. Doom has a ritual he needs to prepare before he kills me and takes my life. It’s complex, and will take hours to set up; possibly up to a day.”

“Um... Isn’t killing you the same as taking your life?”

“No.”

“Right. Can you get my collar off? Because that was the sticking point.”

Loki actually smiled briefly. “THAT was the problem? Not the handcuffs…” -he looked down at Tony’s hands- “Ah, no… obviously not. How did you get out of those?”

Tony flashed him his best, most confident grin. “Well first of all, Reindeer Games, since I’ve let people tie me down to a bed before, “- he ignored the shocked look Loki gave him- “it seemed safer to know how to get out of handcuffs. Secondly, after the Avengers got together, Natasha and Clint insisted on finishing my education in escape artistry and self-defense.” He raised an eyebrow at the god. “Can you get the collar off?”

“Bend down to my hands.” Loki was doing something complicated with his fingers to the collar. Tony felt it tighten on his neck and had a moment of panic before it pulled away.

Tony sat up and stared down at… a perfectly ordinary leather collar, with a buckle.

“What the hell?”

“A simple illusion, Stark. You cannot expect that I routinely travel with magical collars, can you?” Loki smirked at him, in an echo of his usual sass.

“Son of a bitch,” Tony said flatly. _No wonder he couldn’t figure out how to get it off: the illusion was seamless, with no latch._

“Unfortunately, it was only a simple illusion; even recovering that power is not enough to help me.” Loki looked… resigned, maybe? “You also cannot escape.”

“Wanna bet?” Tony grinned. “They just threw you in here, secure in the knowledge that you couldn’t escape, and I was chained up all helpless in the corner. They didn’t strip the room.”

“So? There are no weapons here that can overcome the guards. Still…” Loki looked thoughtful, “if it comes to that, I would prefer to take my own life and return my soul to the World Tree than let him have it; and I do have a knife.”

“Not gonna happen, Loki. WE are getting out of here.”

Loki looked puzzled at him. “Even if you could get out of here, I am helpless, and your enemy. Why even try to take me? I would appreciate it if you cut my throat, however; I can cheat Doom of that, at least.”

“WE are going to cheat Doom of everything.” Tony took Loki’s face in his hands. “Look at me.” Loki looked up into Tony’s eyes. ““I know what I’m doing, Loki. Just trust me.” Tony saw Loki’s pupils blow to black. _Well, THAT worked._

“The laptop you had before, Loki. Is it still in here?”

Loki blinked several times and shook his head- Tony momentarily thought the worst, but he was just trying to clear it. “Yes, it’s in the cabinet.”

“What cabinet?” Tony looked around the room in confusion, then realized: “Its invisible, isn’t it? Ok, so let’s walk you over and get it.”

They walked to the far side of the table. As soon as Loki touched a spot near the wall there was a cabinet there, plain as day. Tony opened the door and stared. There were knives, clothes, some other things Tony didn’t recognize- and a laptop.

“Thought you said you didn’t have a weapon to overcome the guards.” Tony waved at Loki to sit down at the table, and started to work on the laptop.

“It’s monitored,” Loki said. “I don’t see how it is of any use.”

Tony shot him a look of pure pity. “It’s got internet access, it’s a computer, and I’m Tony Stark.”

Tony took a few breaks to feed Loki fruit from the bowl on the table, and to drink more electrolytes. He normally wouldn’t bother with food or drink until he was done, but he wasn’t in this by himself, and Loki still couldn’t get out of the Doom-cuffs. All in all though, it didn’t take long: Doom hadn’t prepared this laptop for HIM, after all.

Tony flashed a grin at Loki, and spoke to the computer: “Jarvis, Daddy’s calling.”

The voice from the speaker sounded relieved: “Sir? Your whereabouts were still being determined, and your current condition was unknown. There have been several worldwide situations while you were missing. How may I assist?”

There were situations bad enough to require mentioning while he called for a rescue? That must be bad. “I am in Doom’s castle, in Latveria-“

Loki interrupted, “-Doom’s summer home, just north of the town called Lutigita. Close to the northern border, in the mountains.”

Tony grinned wider, “You heard the man, Jarvis. That’s Loki, re-code him as an ally.”

“Is that wise, sir?”

Tony laughed, “Hell, no.”

“Ah, then of course you would do it. I am pleased to hear you sounding well, sir.”

“Well? I’m only up and around thanks to Loki, but I’m not well.” Tony kept his voice level with an effort. “Doom tortured me for my codes, Jarvis; come get us both and then send this place to hell. Confirmation code: Iridium, 8, 7, 25.”

“Are you absolutely certain, sir?”

“The bell tolls four times, and then nine. See you soon, Jarvis; make sure we can get Loki out, too.”

“Estimated time of arrival: two hours.”

“I’ll try to stay near the laptop.”

Tony closed the call, leaving the laptop logged in to the internet, and put it away in the cabinet. He studied the supplies.

“Any of that helpful to you recovering?” he asked Loki.

“Not really. Doom drained my power severely.”

“Loki, like I said… IF I have any magic, it’s not like yours. Can you put this all in layman’s terms?”

Loki looked frustrated, so Tony peeled an orange and started feeding him slices. The feel of Loki’s lips on his fingers was incredible. _I am so hand feeding you every chance I get._

After he’d eaten several slices he started talking: “Doom stripped me of my … magical energy. He… drained my battery? Right now I am weak and out of power, unable to defend myself properly, but I would eventually recover.”

Tony nodded, “But he has more plans?”

“Yes. He plans to take my LIFE, Stark.” He looked at Tony and sighed, “He will take my ability to recover my magic, my essence, everything of use. My life and power will be his.”

“So… right now he has a lot of power he stole from you, but it will run out and not recharge; after that, he’s going to have your abilities permanently added to his abilities? Is that it?”

“It’s overly simplified, but yes.”

Ton whistled. “Yeah… that’s bad.”

“You have a gift for understatement,” Loki said sarcastically.

“Among other gifts. So… if I recharge your batteries, can you get out of those cuffs?”

Loki just stared at him for a few beats. “If you… “

“Would it be difficult to get out of those cuffs? Because it’ll be easier to get you out of here if you can hold a weapon and run.” _Lots easier, in fact._

“It would not take anywhere near my full magics, to unlock the cuffs. Can you not unlock them?”

“If I could I would have let you out… wait… you mean you thought I deliberately left you in chains?”

“I would, were I you.”

“Well you AREN’T me. I don’t know any unlocking spells, just a lot of perfectly normal tricks I learned along the way, and some advanced stuff I learned from Widow and Hawk.” He grinned at Loki. “There is one very important trick that can help you escape from any cuffs.”

“And that is?” Loki asked him suspiciously.

“If your captor lets you put them on yourself.” Tony couldn’t hold back a laugh at the abashed expression on Loki’s face.

Tony fed him another slice of orange; Loki’s lips on his fingers were making his cock jump. Tony wondered how much of this was actual strategy and how much was lust; not that lust wasn’t a viable strategy sometimes. “Seriously though, I do have… I studied a practice… ok I studied a lot of practices that are called magic, by some people. I never thought of them as ‘magic’, but they work…”

“Is that what you used on me?” Loki asked- at least he didn’t sound angry anymore.

“Yes. It’s a dirty, manipulative, underhanded trick, but it works, and I needed to escape.”

Loki nodded tiredly. “Was anything you told me true?”

Tony blinked at him. “All of it. I didn’t lie to you.”

“You didn’t? But…”

Tony reached over and stroked his cheek. “I may have chosen which truths to tell you, and left out a few, but I didn’t lie to you.”

Loki shook his head and smiled, “Trapped by one of my own favorite methods, in that; how ironic.” He looked up at Tony and tilted his head curiously, “So which part was the magic, if not to charm me with words?”

“There’s a bit of the words, and being able to read a person; that’s part of it- It’s usually the only part I use. Lots of people do it without even knowing they’re doing it. The part that is supposed to be used to raise and channel energy, though….”

Tony helped him to his feet, and reached up. He pulled Loki’s head down to his own and pressed his lips softly against Loki’s. Loki was confused but when Tony opened his mouth in submission, Loki took it. This time Tony let Loki win the kiss and take possession of his mouth. Tony put his hand at the base of Loki’s spine and pressed. He visualized a flower opening, and a green vine growing from the root up Loki’s spine. He traced a path to Loki’s neck with his fingers, and melted into his kiss. His hands finally returned to Loki’s head. Loki was writhing against him, desperate to force their bodies closer, his arms straining against the restraints. Tony pulled back from the kiss and held the god in his arms.

“I know you’ve had some bad experiences before. I was planning on waiting, but… tell me, honestly, did that help? Your magical reserves, I mean? I know it feels good.”

Loki pulled himself away from Tony’s embrace in embarrassment. Then he looked thoughtful. “Yes?” He stared down at Tony in shock. “That... helped… a little.”

Tony looked over at the ruined bed, and then back at Loki. “Well then… Shall we make some magic?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> most sexual magical practices have a core system about raising energy....  
> NOTE: i have, rather deliberately, used a hodge-podge of various chants, practices, and methods: from Neuro Linguistic Programming (MLP) to Tantra, to Yoga, to Wicca. This is partly to make things fit in a narrative, and party to reflect Tony's mostly self taught and eclectic skill set.   
> (in other words, don't expect this to work this way in real life, although its all based on something)


	12. Priorities, Pockets, and Princes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come, you have to get up and make them.”  
> \- Madame C.J. Walker

 

Tony grabbed a bottle from the cabinet, “Is this olive oil?”

“Yes.” Loki looked puzzled, “I thought you wanted to have sex, Stark, not have lunch.”

Tony rolled his eyes, “And that, Reindeer Games, is why I gave you a blowjob instead of letting you fuck me in the ass.”

Oh my! The god of sexy black hair and green eyes and legs that went all the way up could BLUSH.

“Oh, well, yes, I had been a bit distracted.” He turned PINK! Oh this was ADORABLE… when he had more time he was going to play with this, yes he was.

“So come over here and sit down,” Tony patted the remains of the bed.

Loki retrieved his knives from the cabinet- which was a good trick, actually- and set them down near the bed.   When Tony shot him a curious look he explained, “In case Doom’s people come for us, I want weapons at hand.”

“Ah. Sensible.” Tony set the olive oil lube down within easy reach.

Loki had managed to recover his dignity, and was settling himself gracefully on the bed. How he managed to be graceful with his legs on a walking chain and his hands cuffed behind his back was beyond Tony.

Tony settled himself on the bed next to Loki and started considering the logistics. “Ok, so I can unfasten a few things on your shirt, and slide that over your head, but it will end up bunched up on your cuffs and that could get uncomfortable. The pants I can slide down and I don’t think they’ll be in the way.” Tony looked thoughtfully at the daggers and then back at Loki, “Or we can cut the clothes off.”

Loki looked amused, “We speak of a chance at escape, Stark; if you think I value my clothing over my breath you are sadly mistaken.”

Tony nodded. “I… I don’t want to make this unpleasant, so I figured I better ask it’s ok before I cut your clothes off” He picked up one of the daggers. It was obviously Asgardian, unlike the Earth material of the clothes.

“So you have your usual blades, but… this is Earth clothing? Why?” Tony asked as he tackled the engineering and geometry question of how to dissect a complex item of clothing in as few cuts as possible.

Loki didn’t answer immediately. After a while he seemed to come to a decision and started talking. “I suppose you need to know.” He sighed, “When I was imprisoned in Asgard… Doom managed to get some of my blood. I don’t know how.“ He looked at Tony thoughtfully, as Tony began carefully taking apart the leg of his pants. “Do you understand that having some of my blood gives him some measure of power over me?”

“Yes, actually. Body fluids are kind of a big deal in a lot of the things I’ve studied.” Tony sat back and looked thoughtful, “He does magic with blood?”

“He can, yes. It’s one of the easier types of magic. In any event he used the blood he had- all of it at the time- to summon me out of the Asgardian jail.” Loki smiled darkly, “The wards on the cell were meant to keep my power-a prisoner’s power- from reaching OUT, not to keep anyone else from reaching IN.”

Tony started working on the other leg of the pants.

“Unfortunately, I chose to answer the summons, to allow myself to be pulled free and brought back to Midgard. A simple escape.” Loki sounded bitter. _Which wasn’t surprising given how that had worked out._

After a moment Loki continued, “The summons meant I arrived with only the clothing I was wearing in prison.”

“Then the knives?”

“I always keep a few things hidden away in a… I think the phrase Selvig used was ‘pocket dimension’. I could not reach it from my cell, of course, but from Midgard it’s easy enough.”

Tony grimaced, “And you can’t get to it without your magics, right?”

“Correct. Although, again, it would not take MUCH of my magic being returned to reach it.”

“So… supposedly, if you summon something it’s bound. Is that why you were working with Doom?”

“Not quite. He had freed me by summoning me, and thus I owed him a favor. We had been trading in minor favors: information for information, gifts for gifts. He was more subtle than I gave him credit for. By the time he called on the favor I owed him, I had grown too familiar. The favor he called upon was to study my magics: to be able to look upon my capabilities without defenses. He wished knowledge, and I wished to pay my debt and be quit of him, and he had been reasonable until then. It left me vulnerable for a short time.”

“And then he drained you.”

“Indeed, and prepares for worse.”

“Wow, sounds like Obie.” He pulled the pants clear of Loki and grinned. “How do you manage to look that regal, naked and in chains?”

“Practice, I suppose.” Loki shrugged, “And I am a...”- he winced- “I was a prince.”

“Once a prince of Narnia, always a prince of Narnia,” Tony said firmly. He sighed at the blank look on Loki’s face and held up a hand, “It’s a quote… from a story. I’ll explain later.”

“Now, normally I’m using my powers for good-fun at least; and every now and then I use my powers for evil- which means being a manipulative bastard. I’ve... never used them for magic, though.” Tony thought very carefully. “Like I said, I didn’t ever think of this as ‘magic’ in that way. What that means is I have no idea if the things I would normally do, are the best ways to help you recover your energy.”

“Then you think we should not?”

Tony snorted and sat down next to Loki. “First of all, we have just under two hours until all hell breaks loose, and I don’t know about YOU, but I totally suck at ‘do nothing and wait’. My mind and tension levels will be better off if I do something.”

Loki nodded thoughtfully at that. “We are alike in that.”

“Secondly, there is a chance this could work- not even a bad chance- and if it does work, it increases our chances by a significant amount. Since it doesn’t cost us anything to try, as long as we’re careful, that’s a pretty tactically sound thing to do.” Tony grinned, “Thirdly, you’re devastatingly good looking, snarky, and clever, and you have the most amazing way of moving, and while I might prefer a different situation, it’s actually something I fantasized about once you were safely off the planet, so-“

“You what?” Loki frowned at him

“Which part?”

“You... fantasized about me?”

“Admittedly I fantasize about a lot of things, but yes. I mean, once you were safely off the planet and not going to kill me, I mean.” Tony frowned, “Is that a problem?”

“No, it’s just strange.”

Tony grinned, “What, didn’t you ever fantasize about me?”

Loki raised an eyebrow and then snorted, “No.”

The grin Tony gave him would have terrified any number of people, including a number of terrorists-now dead. “Well, now you will.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, now you know how he GOT here...   
> and for Tony (remembering that he is self taught, mostly, and still a bit uncertain about the whole "what do you mean it really is magic" part) this is a case of "might help, can't hurt".


	13. Green means Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.  
> Jim Morrison

 

“Since I’m not sure about the energy raising part, I’m going to go ahead and use all the meditations, mudras, and-“

“What did you say?”

“Mudras? It’s... like postures and gestures-“

“Yes, I know a similar word. I just hadn’t heard it here.”

“Ok... do you have any gestures or postures that you can use to raise energy?”

Loki looked at him as though he was a complete idiot. “Yes, none of which work with my hands bound behind my back or with no energy to begin.”

“Right, so we’ll try the ones I know. I’ll show them to you and then I can go over a warm up chant.”

“You didn’t do this before; why now?”

“Before, I wasn’t trying to raise your energy; if I did, it was a side effect. If they don’t work, they don’t work, but since it’s only the warm up… what have we got to lose?”

Loki nodded, “Very well. Show me.”

“This one is for knowledge: touch the tip of your index finger with the tip of your thumb, like this.” Tony showed him. “Now if you just do that without any meditation, it’s also the letter ‘F’ in sign language, a really rude gesture referencing anal sex in most of Europe, and a hand sign meaning ‘fine’ in America.”

Loki looked amused, “Even your gestures are not universal? What a–“

“Primitive, yeah, I know. Live with it.” Tony shrugged, “There’s a mantra, a chant, I used to use with that one; it means ‘Let our mutual studies work well and let there be harmony between us’-more or less.   They ALL start with ‘Aum’… but you have to breath and… I always felt like it worked better if I sort of hummed all the words until my chest vibrated. You’re the wizard, Harry, give it a try.”

“My name isn’t-“

“BOOK, Loki! It’s a reference to a book and a movie.” He rubbed his forehead _. Must not mention Thor, must not mention Thor_. “Try this: ‘Aauauaummm’.” He hummed it in the back of his throat until he felt that familiar loosening in his chest. He put his hand on Loki’s chest, “Now you.”

Loki looked like he was humoring him, but did a near perfect imitation.

Tony frowned, “No. That’s my pitch; it’s not vibrating right for you. Keep changing pitches until you feel like….” He tried to describe it, “Like there’s a pool of warm honey in your chest and its melting. Hang on, let me get where I can feel this properly.” Tony pulled Loki into his lap. It was a pose in most of the oldest Tantric sculptures- even down to the Loki’s legs off to the side- the only thing missing was Loki wrapping his arms around Tony in return, but of course he couldn’t. Tony pulled him in close, and put his head to Loki’s chest, “Try again.”

Unlike any other person he’d ever worked with, Loki didn’t seem to think this was weird; he tried again. “Auaaammm.”

They slid up and down the scale a few times. Finally Loki started swearing.

“We can skip it-“ Tony said hesitantly.

Loki snorted, “No. That’s not it. You are not trained in my skills, but I am expecting YOU to tell me when this is right, and you do not know. Just do your part, hold it, and let me try to do mine.”

Tony obligingly Aumed, and Loki started sliding up and down and changing how it sounded while they were pressed together. It felt really oddly wonderful. Tony lost track, but suddenly the vibrations in their chests lined up in some kind of fantastic way and it felt… It felt like the beginnings of an orgasm, or the hum of a new ARC reactor starting up, or the perfect beat in a piece of music.

“Wow.” Tony looked at Loki, who was looking a bit startled, “That… that got it.”

“Yes. If nothing else we can use that. What is the rest?”

“Well the part I told you: ‘let our mutual studies benefit us both and let there be harmony between us’ is”-Tony carefully enunciated the chant- “except of course you say ‘Aum’ the way we just did, and you kind of go up in pitch there in the middle, and then you hold the vowel in the last repeats of the word ‘peace’ I can say it and just have you say the ‘Aum’ part as a harmony.”

“No, I have it.” Loki repeated it. Exactly.

Tony blinked, “Wow, you’re quick.”

“It is not dissimilar to language I studied once, long ago, and the chant is short enough. Proceed.”

Tony wrapped his arms around Loki, folded his hands into the Gyan Mudra, and began the chant. He closed his eyes and focused on feeling the vibrations in his chest, touching Loki’s chest, and feeling the vibrations there. Loki slid quickly on each syllable to a completely different pitch, which somehow made Tony feel like his bones were melting, and fusing together with Loki’s.

When they finished, Loki turned sparkling green eyes to Tony, “Again.” He hummed into Tony’s chest. They repeated it, and this time it was better, because Loki wasn’t a beat behind. Tony could feel Loki in a way he never could before, like they were two tuning forks. They just rested against each other for a moment when it was done.

“I am not certain if the words are important. Stark, or just the tones, but I FELT that.”

“Was it good for you?” Tony smirked reflexively.

“Yes,” Loki said without any humor at all, and his eyes looked livelier than they’d been. “Now what?”

“Now life.” Tony pulled back with an effort and showed him the hand posture. “And the chant I use is shorter; if we can, we should use that while we work on your energy. It means:’ from unreal to real; from darkness to light; from death to immortality’.” -he recited that one- “And then you can add the same peace chant at the end.”

They moved back together and practiced it once, then again with Tony moving his hands lightly over Loki’s spine and up and around his chest. Tony felt incredible, he felt like he was floating slightly off the bed. Tony blinked a few times, “Ah, too much upper level energy, not enough lower. Time to get this started properly.”

“That… was enough.” Loki made a clicking sound somehow, and put his arms around Tony. _Wait… his arms had been cuffed behind his back…_ Then Loki grabbed his hair and pulled him in to a kiss.

 _Loki could kiss,_ Tony remembered. _He may not have BEEN kissed before by anyone who bothered, but his lips and tongue knew what to do, and he picked up FAST_. Tony ran his hands up Loki’s back from his root to his crown. _Was it my imagination or did I feel something respond?_

“Loki,“ Tony pulled back from the kiss, “The usual power raising pose, here, would... well with us in this position, and me guiding the chants and all, would have me inside you.” Tony could feel Loki tense. “We can try it with you inside me…”

Loki spoke very quietly, “You know this form of magic, so you are leading. It would hamper it for you to take the… submissive… role.”

“Yeah, yeah it might.”

Loki shuddered, “I-“

“-was hurt. Yeah, I could tell.” He took Loki’s face in his hands and made him look at Tony, “I mean that. I know. When I touched you there last time, I could tell. Will you let me try to help you?”

Loki looked at him- took a deep breath- and nodded.

Tony poured some oil onto his hands and rubbed them together. “This is only going to work well if we both work together, just like the warm ups. I’ll probably know anyway, but I need you to tell me if it gets too upsetting for you to continue. Have you ever… No, that’s a silly question. Ok, there’s this concept called a safe word. It’s basically a word or two you use to say ‘slow down’ or ‘stop’.”

“Why not just say ‘slow down’ or ‘stop’?”

“Well ‘slow down’ you probably could use, but lots of folks say ‘stop’, or ‘no’, during sex- especially when it gets intense- and they don’t mean it. If you pick a word that you just wouldn’t be likely to say, then everyone knows you REALLY mean it. In this case though, how about traffic lights? I ask how you’re doing and you answer with green for fine, yellow for back off a bit, and red for stop, this isn’t good. You can also just give me the color if you think I need to know, like telling me yellow if I push you too fast.” Tony ran his oil slicked hands up Loki’s back slowly. Loki arched into it and then proved he was a really quick study by running his hands up TONY’s back in a way that made Tony look forward to the rest of this.

“Then,” Loki nodded and ran his hands up Tony’s back again, “I believe green means go.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes those mudras and those chants are for real. NO they are not necessarily part of this kind of practice. Tony had some really eclectic lessons.


	14. Explosive Combinations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sex is emotion in motion.  
> Mae West

 

They spent some time simply pressed together, chanting into each other, breath to breath, vibration to vibration, running their hands over each other. They kissed between every repetition of the chant: Tony felt lightheaded; Loki’s eyes sparkled and their kisses felt like the air after a lightning strike.

Tony kept reapplying the oil, rubbing and kneading at Loki’s back and chest until Loki was pliable and relaxed; then he moved his hands down. Loki tensed, then forced himself to relax as he chanted again. Tony could tell Loki wasn’t able to relax enough, although he never said a word-not even his safeword- which would mean this would hurt. He salved his conscience with the fact that he had already gotten consent.

After the next kiss, he looked deeply into Loki’s eyes: “I know what I’m doing, Loki. Just trust me and it will feel wonderful.” He never thought he would feel guilty for doing this to _Loki_ of all people, but he did.

Loki’s energy opened up to him completely, and this time he could feel it. Tony slipped an oil covered finger into him, and hummed. Loki gasped, eyes blown to black, lips parted. _He looks like the illustrations in the older manuscript._ Tony suddenly saw the images and sculptures people had depicted brought to life in front of him: the black hair, the flushed red lips, the eyes black with desire, slim and limber as a serpent.

Tony visualized Loki as a serpent climbing Tony as a tree, and pressed a second finger into him. He felt the beginnings of hesitation, of concern, and smiled. He murmured into Loki’s skin, and flexed his fingers against Loki’s prostate.

Loki arched and moaned, his hands digging painfully into Tony’s shoulders. Tony felt his fingers and wrists twist painfully; he’d forgotten how strong his partner was, far more than human strength. He felt blood dripping down his shoulders. Tony fought to control his thoughts and still his body; he imagined the water of life flowing across his back.

He whispered directions into Loki’s ear. It seemed to make him more comfortable that he would control how much, how far, how fast, in this position. Tony coated himself in oil and Loki lifted himself up.

“From unreal to real.” Loki held himself just above Tony, and Tony worked him open with oil slicked fingers. He decorated Loki’s chest with kisses and bites, following the paths he’d mapped out before with his tongue. He traced sigils of power onto him with his mouth. Tony felt his blood on Loki’s hands as he held himself up and began slowly to lower onto Tony.

“From darkness to light.” Tony felt Loki slowly slip around him, tight, but slick with oil. He groaned; it was so slow– even with all his practice, it was so slow. They were humming into each other, beyond words. Loki sheathed him and moaned. Tony forced himself to stillness in his body, and began running his hands up Loki’s spine.

They stayed joined without moving for a time. Humming and tracing fire with their tongues. Then Tony let his hands drift down and coaxed his partner to lift himself just the smallest degree, and let himself back down. Loki moaned and his eyes opened wide, looking down into Tony’s eyes with shock. He hesitantly tried again, a bit further. _It shouldn’t be such a shock that it felt good_. Tony resolved to do this for fun, not desperate escape, later, when they had time

“From death to immortality.” They continued like that: Loki slowly moving up and down, often moving not at all.

Hands and lips tracing patterns and sigils on each other.

Loki painting runes on Tony in his own blood.

Energy building and building.

Chants and mantras building and blurring; Loki adding some of his own– Tony humming along to the tones, if not the words.

Until a noise from the laptop on the table caught at Tony’s ear and he smiled. He leaned forward and whispered into Loki’s ear, “Now, enough beginning.”

Tony shifted his position under him, just a little, and the next time Loki came down, Tony was hitting just the right spot. Loki came undone at that, his head lolling back as he rose and fell, mouth open, eyes glazed. Somehow Loki was still managing to keep the pitches and tones, although he was no longer chanting in any language Tony knew.

They came together and fell apart.   Collapsing and melting as the first explosions rocked the building.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> um, yes... Loki pretty well ripped up Tony's back. Loki may be out of POWER but he is still stronger than a normal human


	15. Rock and Roll

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I associate heavy metal with fantasy because of the tremendous power that the music delivers.  
> Christopher Lee

Tony had never experienced anything like this. Until now he had only thought of his studies as being a sort of enhanced psychology, with any power raising being a purely meditative effect. The sheer rush of the power – tangible power– they had raised made him dizzy and drunk, which may be why he didn’t initially notice that the bed was on fire.

In fairness, Loki didn’t notice immediately either.

A blink after they noticed, there was a sort of confused flurry of yelling and attempting to move, and a sheet that very nearly succeeded in tripping Tony and breaking his neck; then they were both standing next to a bed on fire. Tony looked around and noticed additional small fires here and there in the room.

“Do you have ANY idea what did THAT?!” Tony panted and stared around the room.

“Ah...” Loki sounded… _Loki sounded guilty, that’s what Loki sounded._

Tony narrowed his eyes.

“I... channeled some of the power into burning any of our essence that wasn’t a part of us. We could not afford to leave any in Doom’s hands.” Loki sounded a bit sheepish.

Tony thought about Doom, and how many blood samples he had to have, and shuddered. “Good idea there. If there’s ever a next time, warn me.”

Loki nodded, and started pulling on what spare clothing he had and grabbing his knives. Tony meanwhile took some of the sheet and ran over to the barred window- the barred window that was just a bit too…

“Hey, tall person,” he called at Loki. “Get your runway bod over here and tie this to the outside of the bars?”

Loki was halfway through tying it to the bars before he asked, “What magic can you do to the bars with our bedsheet?”

Tony grinned, “Watch me.”

He went over to the computer and told Jarvis how he had marked the window.

“So we need to be all the way over HERE,”-he ran over to his nest against the wall-“like right now.”

Loki came over to him and pressed his back to the wall, staring suspiciously around as if doom- or Doom- was about to show up.

Tony saw the color flash by the window, and grinned, “Oh Yeah!” as images of childhood commercials ran behind his eyes.

The wall exploded in a dazzle of red and gold.

Loki threw a knife at it, and then Tony was yelling, “Friends, Maleficent, you can’t have forgotten my armor this fast.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be IN it?!” Loki yelled over the explosions and wall collapsing.

“Yeah.” He spun, turning his back to the armor and facing Loki, laughing as he spread his arms out… and the suit wrapped around him like an embrace.

He was blind for just a moment until the HUD came online; then suddenly he had the power to reduce this place to rubble around his ears, and not just escape.

Loki looked at him blankly for a moment. Tony could almost feel it. He had gone from being Loki’s toy and prisoner, to being his consort and second, to a trap, to a potential rescuer and a lover… and now? Now he was back where they had started at the Plaza in Stuttgart.

Tony cued up his music, and raised his visor to look Loki in the eye. “I can get you to the Quinjet right now, safe and sound and out of the way…” -he grinned-“but I figured you want to be in on this. Was I wrong?”

“You haven’t been yet, Stark,” Loki smiled, coiled like a serpent waiting to strike.

He closed the helmet and kicked the music on. “Let’s show this prehistoric bitch how we do things downtown,” he said, without the speakers, so only Jarvis could hear him.

“Welcome back, sir,” Jarvis said in his ear, and on the screens in front of his eyes, right where he belonged.

Tony turned on the speakers and looked at Loki, who was looking at the door with a smile that promised blood.

“Showtime.”

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well i managed to confuse my updates and updated "Enter Sandman" when this one should have, and this one today... sorry?  
> There will be a sequel to this!!!! so the next chapter is the "end" of this story arc, and then we start a ew one, very much like my "A Tangled Skein" series.


	16. Hell’s Bells

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I hope to outlive my enemies.  
> William Sanderson

Iron Man blasted the door– and part of the wall– apart exiting the room. Later, he might let himself worry about whether any of the guards had deserved mercy– maybe. He was just glad he didn’t see any of the maids, because he was pretty sure they deserved a chance to run for it.

“Stark! Do you even HEAR me?” Loki was yelling. Tony realized he’d been yelling for a while.

“Nope... Smashing things. Big green guy isn’t here, someone has to smash everything.” A group of guards popped up at the end of another hallway and Tony locked on target and fired the repulsors. It was amazing how you got used to fighting supers and aliens; ordinary Doom-guards just smeared against the walls like jam.

Loki suddenly leapt past him and darted down a hallway to the side. His blades moved so fast… three guards and a man in a lab coat went down. Tony was fairly sure the lab coat guy hadn’t even realized he was cut before he died.

“THIS way, Stark.” Loki was all coiled muscles and blades. Loki was also completely nude…

“Don’t you folks normally wear, you know, clothes? I mean for a battle?” Tony noticed a few more guards showing up with energy weapons, and shot them before they could fire.

“Just noticing?” Loki grabbed a man in the elite guard uniform and gutted him. Personal, then: he died a bit more slowly than the others.

“It looks good on you and all…” Tony suddenly saw the technician who had overseen most of his torture sessions. “That one’s MINE.”

Loki considerately darted around a corner and showed up on the other side of him, blocking his escape. Tony considered five different weapons, ruled them out as being too quick, and just grabbed the guy.

“It’s way faster than you deserve, you son of a bitch…” Tony flexed the gauntlet and felt the bastard’s throat crush. He dropped him and watched him choke to death.   Loki killed a couple of guards that got too close.

“Stark, watch out!” Loki vanished in an energy weapon blast. Tony hoped that was an illusion. He felt the suit heat up, smelled burning insulation, wires, and skin.

Suddenly his visor was covered in frost. When he cleared the sensors, the hallway was iced. Loki was blue? He shook his head, and Loki was standing there looking normal enough… for a nude guy covered in blood holding knives, anyway.

“As much as I wish to slaughter them all personally, Stark, I think we may need to gain some distance.”

Tony hated to admit it, but the man was right. “Yeah, the suit’s taken pretty heavy damage. Let’s get out of here and let the distance weapons do their thing.

“Jarvis?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Playtime’s over. Loki and I need a ride home.” He had to raise his visor to get Loki’s attention; his speakers had failed. “Ok, Rock of Ages, let’s blow this joint!”

Loki raised an eyebrow at him. How the hell he managed to look elegant and superior standing in a hallway naked, covered in blood- maybe it was the dead bodies.

“Grab hold, we have to go UP.”

Loki got the point quickly enough and grabbed hold. Tony’d had to give enough rides to people that he’d built small retractable grab points on his armor.

“Hang on, and brace, we’re blowing our way out.” Jarvis fed schematics to him: it looked like the best way out was through two walls to his left, and then straight up.

He fired a few missiles down the hallways behind him, collapsing the ceilings- that should keep pursuit off for a few. In short order, he was blasting through the outer wall of the building.

Sunlight.

He hadn’t seen sunlight in far too long.

The building-castle, he supposed- behind him was burning, and guards were pouring out of it like wasps from a nest, but all Tony cared about was the snowcapped peaks, and the bright sun, and the open air.

Something clanged against his helmet.

Loki was pounding on it with the hilt of his blade and pointing to the array of four small flying vehicles.

“Experimental models, from Stark Enterprises,” Tony grinned. “Jarvis, pick us up.”

One of the vehicles opened a side hatch. Three of the remote suits fell into formation to protect them until they got inside.

“Those were… more suits...” Loki panted as he dropped off onto the deck of the craft.

“Yeah, remotes… Jarvis runs them.” Tony hit the auto release on his damaged suit.

“Sir, sensors indicate that you have damage requiring medical attention,” Jarvis said, sounding a bit worried.

“Yeah? Probably.”

“Stark? What happened to your back?!” Loki sounded stunned.

“Uh…” Tony twisted his head and flexed his shoulders- _OW! Oh, right, that_. “You did, Bambi. When you got a little worked up clutching at my shoulders.”

Loki looked like he was debating something for a little bit. “You will ensure we BOTH get out of here?”

“I said that.”

Loki just raised an eyebrow at him.

Tony sighed, “YES. I will make sure we BOTH get out of here to safety. Why?”

Loki strode forward and pulled Tony into a kiss. _Say whatever else you wanted to say, but he knew what he was doing with that mouth_. Tony was just getting into it– especially easy to do, seeing as how they were both naked in a private Starkjet– when Loki slid out of his arms limply and crumpled to the floor.

Loki was out cold, pale and still. Tony felt fantastic, and his shoulders didn’t even ache. _He’d healed ME this time, and used up whatever consciousness he had left. So much for trying to get any more discussion for a while. Well, at least I won’t have to explain my back…_

Tony just shook his head and laid Loki out flat on the floor. He was too heavy to lift without the suit and it would be a while before they were someplace to land.

“Jarvis? Finish explaining things to my previous host, make sure you don’t leave him any scraps to play with, and get us out of here.”

“With pleasure, sir.”

“So, what did I miss that was so important?”

“Captain America was declared a traitor. Director Fury was supposedly killed. Hydra turns out to be alive and well and infiltrated through S.H.I.E.L.D..  Sgt. Bucky Barnes had become a Hydra supersoldier-code named The Winter Soldier- but now appears to be on his own.  The new helicarriers were intended to be used to kill millions, but were disabled by Captain Rogers and Agent Romanov with Director Fury’s assistance.  All information on S.H.I.E.L.D. servers was released to the public-Ms. Potts and I have been doing our best to scrub data relevant to yourself and Stark Enterprises from the data dump. Ms. Potts has been transferring personnel from S.H.I.E.L.D. to Stark Industries and the Avengers. Agents-“

“WOAH! Stop! Hold on!” Tony rubbed his forehead. “I need coffee, and food, and a Starkpad, and we’re going to go over this slowly, AFTER I call Pepper, because I am not repeating the nuke fight again.”

“Certainly sir, and if I may say so again, it’s good to have you back.”

“It’s good to be back, Jarvis,” Tony said, looking down at Loki’s unconscious body, “but I get the feeling it’s still pretty complicated.”

“Indeed, sir.”

“Hamburger. Loki and I both need a hamburger… and not one of these European atrocities, a REAL hamburger.” He put himself into one of the chairs and buckled himself in.

Tony looked thoughtful. “Clothes first, though.”

“An excellent choice, sir.”

“Take us home.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I based my version of this fight on how time goes in a real life and death situation for many people: either it seems to take no time at all, or it takes forever.  
> and yes, as Jarvis says the entirety of "The Winter Soldier" action happened during the time Tony was a prisoner. OBVIOUSLY Pepper is not letting people know that Iron Man is missing, especially since she isnt sure that he is. (Its not like anyone knew for sure what happened.)
> 
> This story continues in "Transitions".


End file.
